I don’t know why it took me all these years to get around to making my own fancy bows for decorating, but I finally got tired of paying other people to do it for me, I suppose. So I took a crash course in fancy bow making thanks to several YouTube videos and I think the end results turned out pretty good!

I ordered two different fall themed wire ribbons online. Both were 2.5 inches wide and I think 30 feet each in length. While they were on their way, I found a bunch of tutorials and learned right away that I would have made things MUCH easier on myself had I ordered two-sided ribbon. 😅

It was too late to cancel the order so I made a mental note for next time and worked with what I had. I used a couple different methods I learned from the pros.

First was the one where you cut each individual loop, so I began by cutting the ribbon to length. I cut seven strips, three of one ribbon and four of the other, and cut them to 24″.

For that one you alternate each loop.

The other style you don’t cut them into strips, you just double the ribbon and make loops, twisting and scrunching as you go until you have your desired number of loops.

A zip tie pulled them together tightly and voila! Last was cutting the ends to give them a proper fancy bow tail.

There was enough ribbon to make three large bows. Two for the corn stalks out front…

The third one went on my lamp in the living room…

That one I did a bit differently and left just two long tail ends instead of seven. I like that look the best.

In the end, I had a bit of ribbon left over to make a smaller bow, which I tried to find a good place for…

I ended up putting it as the “O” in my H O M E block letters.

The “O” is usually one of several different seasonal shapes that came with it but I only have a Halloween pumpkin and a Thanksgiving turkey to choose from for this time of year. It’s a bit too soon for either of those so the ribbon works well.

So now that I’m somewhat competent in bow making, I’ll probably make some to replace the old ones on my Christmas tree and maybe a bow wreath or two for the holidays as well.

I might as well since I have so much free time on my hands with gardening season coming to an end and thankfully my hands are still usable (knock on wood!). 🙂